Measuring Broadband America's 2016 report

We are extremely proud to announce that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published its Measuring Broadband America (MBA) report, which is entirely based on SamKnows data.

The MBA is an ongoing program that tests fixed-line internet performance throughout the United States. It’s a collaborative project, publishing annual reports that provide a performance benchmark. The data is used to influence, educate and improve internet provision across America.

At SamKnows, we measure the network performance for the MBA. To do this, we monitor speeds delivered on selected service tiers of a representative sample of the US population. These metrics include download, upload, latency and packet loss.

The highlights of 2016

It’s clear that internet access and quality of experience is continuing to improve in the United States. Nevertheless, there are plenty of exceptions to this general upwards trend. Faster internet speeds still need to be implemented across the entire country, not just in certain areas, and there are clear differences in speed according to technology. Overall, the 2016 MBA report demonstrates that ISPs are increasing their internet speeds and improving the quality of experience available in America.

All these findings, and more, are described more fully in the report, which you can read here.

Quality of Experience in 2017

The methodology and metrics for 2017’s report will remain largely the same as this year’s report. However, we hope to include more of our quality of experience measurements that we have been developing over the past two years, such as gaming and video-streaming. We think these metrics will record particularly relevant data now that gaming and video-streaming account for well over half of the United States’ internet use during peak hours.

Look out for next year’s report, and in the meantime, if you would like to contribute to the program or measure your internet speeds at home, sign up for a Whitebox!